Chief Minister Howard Quayle has rejected claims the Isle of Man is no wiser as to how Brexit will impact here.

While he argued the publication of the draft withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU last week, had provided some clarity for the Isle of Man, not everyone agreed.

The withdrawal agreement included a political statement, but Mr Quayle said: ’This statement does not contain any mention of territorial scope and so we remain in close contact with the UK as the talks progress.’

Responding to the statement Mr Quayle gave in Tynwald on Tuesday morning, Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) said there was a lot that remained unknown, which left him ’worried’.

He asked: ’Is he as disappointed as I am disappointed at the lack of clarity there is inside the agreement itself and also the lack of clarity that has been provided to the Isle of Man Government in respect of our relationship?’

But Mr Quayle countered: ’I am not disappointed, I think the UK Government has shared with us an awful lot of information. While the Isle of Man is the centre of our universe, we have to accept it is not the centre of everyone else’s universe.’

He pointed out that a team of officials was in the UK this week to examine the agreement further.

Earlier, Mr Quayle told members the extent of the withdrawal agreement, in terms of how it would affect the Isle of Man, was limited to areas covered by the island’s current relationship with the EU, via the UK Government, under Protocol 3.

The relationship for the Isle of Man during the withdrawal would be ’the same or very similar’ to the current situation, he said, but it was ’too early to say’ what the differences would be.

He added: ’We will continue to prepare for all eventualities, ensuring that we are prepared for a no-deal Brexit, as well as keeping abreast of the development of a new EU-UK relationship.’

The provisions relating to the financial settlement did not affect the island and the impact of many other ’separation’ issues would have a limited and indirect effect.

’The citizens’ rights provisions are relevant to us,’ he added. ’Essentially the EU and the UK have agreed to protect the rights of citizens from each other’s territories.

’This means that UK citizens who are resident in the EU on or before exit day - and this includes the implementation period, which is currently up to December 31, 2020 - would be allowed to remain and to accrue the right to permanent residence, once they had been there for five years.’

The right was reciprocal, he said.

’So those EU citizens who take up residence in the UK, including the Crown Dependencies, would also have the right to remain and therefore to remain beyond that point.’

He was asked what that meant for those people who had Manx status - their British nationality comes through their Isle of Man connection without a similar UK connection - and did not have the same rights to free movement in the EU as other British citizens.

Mr Quayle said the immigration status of ’Manx’ people living in the 27 countries of the EU came under national law, rather than EU law, so should not change.